29.7.11

What I've been doing with my life for the last Month+

A brief summary of my time in Europe from June 23rd to July 28th. 
Mostly in the Netherlands. Summarized in photo form.

July 1st - Den Haag
We went to the M.C. Escher Museum in what was a city palace of the queen's mother.


July 4th - Amsterdam
Canal cruise and the city museum. Isn't the architecture wonderful?


July 5th - Delft
We visit the delftware factory. They had some amazing geometric tiles. 
 
Old Delft city hall. 
 inside the new kirk
 Colin and I climb the tower at the new kirk and you can see all of Delft and outwards to other dutch cities! 


July 6th - Haarlem
We visit the grote kirk. It's giant and imposing, but really neat architecturally. 
There is an organ in this church that Mozart played!


July 7th - Den Haag
We visit the ritterzaal, the knights hall in the Hague, which is now a site for royal ceremonies. 
Note that big, curtained throne.
We stop for ice cream at the most amazing dutch ijs salon, Florencia.


July 16th - Scheveningen  
Colin and I visit the shore of the North Sea at Scheveningen.
Notice the sea defense bunkers behind me in the 3rd photo.


 July 17th - Arnhem
We visit a wildlife preserve with an art museum in the center of it. 
We bike all over in search of wildlife and see none but bunnies.
We do see this neat pavilion designed by Gerrit Rietveld though.


July 19th - Breda
We are going to visit the graphic design museum in Breda and while walking through a park we experience free range chickens?
The while building is the main church of Breda.


 July 21st - Cologne, Germany
We visit the Hohe Domkirche St. Peter und Maria, a GIANT cathedral right outside of the train station.
The floors have amazing mosaics and tile works. 
 
The church itself is absolutely huge and very gothic. 
I had a german beer with our schnitzel for dinner. 


July 22nd - Alkmaar 
We visit the friday cheese market at the Waagplein. The porters are awesome looking in their white outfits and colored boater hats.
 
That's alot of cheese. It better be Gouda! (haha. Cheese pun. Good-A, get it. Gouda?)
Yeah, never mind that the dutch pronoun Gouda as How-da, not Good-a like we do. 
 Later in the afternoon we go back to Amsterdam on our way home from Alkmaar on the train.
We visit the Dutch WWII resistance museum and we pass the Waag, or the old weigh house in Amsterdam!


July 25th - Den Haag
We are going to a last dinner with most of Colin's classmates before everyone begins to leave the Netherlands.
Colin though this restaurant name was too Wonky to pass up a picture!


July 26th - Paris, France
Colin surprises me with a day trip to Paris for my birthday. It was very sweet.
I loved that we could just catch a high-speed train and go to another country!
We visit the love locks at the Pont de l'Archiveche bridge near Notre Dame and wander through the left bank. 
 Lunch at le Bonapart. The awnings are great.
I had Laduree ice cream after lunch at the Printemps locations. 
 We visited the Luxembourg gardens.
 Back to another Laduree, this time on the Champs-Elysees for early dinner.
This is my desert, a giant pistachio macaroon with pistachio cream and berries.
Colin gets an icy mint and blueberry cupcake. 
We also buy macaroons to take with us.  
 
The colors are SO gorgeous. I'm really exited about a Laduree opening in NYC. 
It's going to be Colin and my weakness, those pretty macaroons.
I also bought two new longchamp totes. 
What can I say, they're cheaper in Europe. And I like them and they last a long time without looking beat up.
And it was my birthday and I was going to treat myself!

We're finally back though. The spending has not stopped as of yet however. 
Look at these awesome platforms I got at Madewell today for only $59!
Now all I need to concentrate on is finding a job and apartment in NYC asap.
Colin starts his new job in just about 2 weeks in the city, so we're really pressed for time!

12.7.11

Home town proud...

I may be in the Netherlands, but Europe is living vicariously through my hometown. 
Check out my two very random finds.
Kansas Griller bratwursts from the Albert Heijn grocery. They're bacon infused and actually, pretty good despite the horrifically white appearance. Also on the shelves were Minnesota cheddar filled brats (I would've gone with Wisconsin, just sayin) and Louisiana barbeque sauce filled brats. Yeah, beats me too!
Second is this shirt, which if you can't read it says "Kansas City Legends". This was taken outside of a store called America Today in Haarlem (NL not NY), which is like the Dutch answer to apparently ubiquitous American Abercrombie/American Eagle/ Aeropostale type style. Maybe I should go buy one to wear back home?